u/bengineering103

Generally havent heard good things about wait times at the Cayuga Med ER. I know you can drive an hour to Syracuse or Sayre, but I figure Cortland is closer...any experiences there? I think there's also a hospital in Auburn?

(I am not currently dying or I would not be posting on reddit)

I'm just starting week 3, went up from 5mg to 7.5mg yesterday because the startup nausea and headaches were so brutal I didnt think I could handle the jump to 10. I have had daily "i cant do this and hate this medication" moments because it helped with my anxiety almost right away but made depression worst. But I keep reading the supportive posts here and having these moments where I actually feel joy again is keeping me going.

Approaching week 2 of 5mg here before bumping up to 7.5mg and then 10mg (headaches and nausea have finally subsided, but were so bad at first that I told my psychiatrist I didn't think I could handle the jump directly to 10mg). I've definitely noticed that I need to hydrate aggressively, and plain water doesn't seem to cut it. I feel like I'm a hummingbird living on Gatorade right now - I did get the new "lower sugar" stuff because I figured I want to stay away from Gatorade Zero (dyes/artificial sweeteners/whatever?), but drinking 4 of them throughout the day is still...a lot of sugar. I've also been snacking on lots of trail mix because I find constant light snacks help with the nausea, but again, that's a lot of added sugar. Trying not to trade my anxiety and depression for diabetes.

Any tips?

Longtime anxious person here, new to depression. This means rapidly learning that all the coping techniques I'm used to to CALM my nervous system (lay down, deep breathing etc) are the complete opposite of what i need for depression. Anyway I was just trying to successfully cook my wife a nice mother's day dinner, needed to jolt myself out of the impending pit of despair, so I ate a whole raw garlic clove...and holy crap, what a jolt to the ol' nervous system. Pit of despair temporarily avoided! (I did immediately get indigestion and sort of regret it, but I took some Pepto and I'm good now).

This is the third time in my life I've been on Lexapro. The first two times it was just for anxiety and the anxiety relief was pretty quick, albeit with some startup side effects like nausea/headaches.

This time, I was also depressed (probably thanks to dealing with cumulative long-term anxiety and insomnia) and...holy crap is the Lexapro making the depression worse. Apparently this can be very common in the first few weeks according to Dr. Google and ChatGPT. It's just new to me because the anxiety relief was so fast the last two times and I guess I hoped the depression effect would be the same. I'm on day 8 and my anxiety symptoms got better fast (things like muscle tension - normally I have chronic disc pain in my back, but that's fine now) but I am at absolutely-dreading-the-day depression levels. This sucks.

I'm safe (have a good safety network/medical support, no intent to leave this planet anytime soon etc) so this is not a crisis situation. Just wanted to vent and maybe hear from people with similar experiences with both anxiety and depression.

I know there are a ton of nausea posts, but I wanted to post this just in case it's helpful to anyone searching in the future. On day 4 of 5mg here. Yesterday I wanted to curl up in a ball and die from the nausea and headache. I was able to eat normal meals but felt absolutely awful all day. Today I made a point to graze and sip water almost continuously all day. Baby carrots, trail mix, pretzels, cheerios, anything I can just nibble on. That seems to have helped immensely. Not totally zero nausea, but I was actually functional and didn't spend the whole day immobilized on the couch.

I've also found that gentle movement helps. As much as i wanted to just curl up in a ball, that didn't actually help the nausea at all. Light chores like laundry or dishes, anything that also keeps your mind somewhat occupied (as opposed to just walking, which I've found usually gives me time to ruminate).​ Or, if i do need to sit down, staying upright on the couch instead of laying flat/curling up seems better.

I know there's tons of home remedy nausea advice on the internet, just wanted to post my experience in case it's helpful to anyone in the future who's currently wondering "oh my God how am I going to get through this" and desperately googling for solutions like I was yesterday.